Aug. 25.
Grence became a republic in 1924, It was probably a natural] sequence to the vicissitudes through which the country had passed since the eventful Salonika incident during the war} which brought King Constantine! into disrepute and paved the way! for such an event, especially after the further misdirected adventures of that _monareh Iwitich brought nothing but disaster in their train. In 1925 thei country to all intents and pur. poses became an autocracy. Gen: eral Pangalos in June of that] year made a daring raid with fa small gathering of followers jon the National Bank and Telegraph Office, and assumed the position of Prime Minister. That particular act was carried] rough as swiftly as, in these] past few days, has been his position, and incidentally it may] be imagined that the populace as whole has taken as little interest in the one event as in the other. This indifference to even radical changes in the govern-iment of the country can readily) be understood. Greece since 1916 has been in a state of flux las regards her rulers. In the Iwar Kitig Constantine backed the wrong horse, and thereafter when reinstated was held responsible for the disastrous eampaign in Anatolia, Apparently, however, the life of the work-fa-day Greek populace was not} so much affected by these events: jas would have been the case in other countries, and more than anywhere else it is the army jand government services which have felt the pressure of polities. Accordingly, as in the present! lease, when the army decided that ruler should go, he made a swift departure, and thus in these past few days it has been! possible to bring about a bloodless revolution.
A very interesting description lof the dictatorship of General Pangalos has been written in the "Quarterly Review" by Mx William Miller, and certain notes from it will assist readers to! understand these recent events, When he seized the reins of power in June a year ago Gen-loral Pangalos was content to be Prime Minister with Admi Kondouriotis as President, and hhis idea was that the republic should be run on the lines of France. There is no doubt about the personally strong character of General Pangalos, but that very strength made it impossible {for him to work amicably. with the President, and Admiral Kondouriotis resigned. General Pangalos should never have accepted a position as second-in-command, his character being" utterly unfitted for it, as in everything he had the dictatorship instincts of a man such as Signor Mussolini, The actual veason for the resignation of Admiral Kondouriotis was the disclosure of negotiations with italy of which the President Knew nothing until they were well advanced. This resignation eft General Pangalos in supreme power, and then his attention was directed towards the American constitution rather than the French, There is_a_ rather humorous reference in Mr. Miller's account of the ease, when hho says that an American had told the General that in the United States the President was also his own Prime Minister, and accepting this idea, General Pangalos now moved' towards this end. He called for a Presidential election, and manipulated things so that he should be elected. Mz. Miller believes that, had he had a greater be Viet in his own personal popular~ ty, he would have been elected fonda straight vote, for already hho had become recognized as a friend of the people and a foe {to corruption, Two officials had been hanged at his instigation for the misappropriation of funds, and a strong ruler was generally welcomed, Because he did not choose to-base his claim to office on an honest appeal to the electorate, the first exclamations against tyranny were heard. First of all he excluded all members of the royal family from participation in the election, enacted a special measure to prevent M. Venizelos standing as 'a eandidate, and in order to eliminate MIN. Zaimis—probably his most the election to men between forty-five and sixty ive, This style of working was all too flagrant, and finally the opposition withdrew altogether, and General Pangalos as the sole candidate was elected. We have already been told that he took the chance expression of American as a guide to his ideas a constitution, but forgot, as the "Quarterly Review" points lout, that in America there is the strong check on the President imposed by the Senate, He became a dictator in every sense jof the word. Papers in Athens were suspended in some cases altogether and in others temporarily, while none were allowed to publish interviews with political leaders opposed to him, An intolerable situation, obviously. Yet in spite of all this his term of government seems to have been productive of much good.
raught about a rapprochement ith Italy and handled negotiations with Albania in an able Jand sympathetic way. Through-cat his term of office one ca sce, however, that he gave no chance to other political as pirate, and it is this, rather than any popular outery, that has brought about his sudden downfall. There is one special piece of irony about his political fend. When he assumed office he allowed his most redoubtable opponent, General Kondilis, to return from exile—an aet_ of distinct generosity with which were coupled others. General Kondilis has not only been at the head of the present bloodless revolution but is now forming a cabinet with himself as Prime Minister,. while the former colleague of General Pangalos, Admiral Kondouriotis, is again to take the position of up President, Tusspay, according to the Chincee Jealendar, was the day when the heat ceases.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.